Because fragrance is a great selling point, mail-order rose catalog descriptions never keep fragrant rose varieties a secret. To further narrow your choices, you can always look for those that have been awarded the American Rose Society’s James Alexander Gamble Rose Fragrance Award.

To win this prestigious award, a nominee must not only be fragrant, it must also possess a number of other attributes, including vigor, pest- and disease-resistance, form, substance, color, and extreme popularity for more than five years. These qualities, of course, make any rose wonderful, which is why all the Gamble Award winners, even though they have a little age on ’em, should still be readily available at your local garden center.

The following list includes all the roses ever to have won the prestigious Gamble Fragrance Award:

1961: ‘Crimson Glory’, red hybrid tea

1962: ‘Tiffany’, pink and yellow blend hybrid tea

1965: ‘Chrysler Imperial’, red hybrid tea

1966: ‘Sutter’s Gold’, orange-yellow hybrid tea

1968: ‘Granada’, red multicolored hybrid tea

1970: ‘Fragrant Cloud’, orange-red hybrid tea

1974: ‘Papa Meilland’, red hybrid tea

1979: ‘Sunsprite’, yellow floribunda

1986: ‘Double Delight’, red and white bicolored hybrid tea

1997: ‘Fragrant Hour’, orange-pink hybrid tea

2001: ‘Angel Face’, lavender floribunda

2002: ‘Secret’, pink and creamy yellow hybrid tea

2003: ‘Mister Lincoln’, red hybrid tea

2005: ‘Sheila’s Perfume’, creamy-yellow and pink floribunda

2007: ‘Fragrant Plum’, lavender hybrid tea

2008: ‘Sweet Chariot’, pink-purple miniature

You may have noticed that most of these roses are hybrid teas. Many hybrid teas don’t have strong fragrance. But isn’t it also interesting that some of the most fragrant roses are hybrid teas? What a wacky world.

Some favorite fragrant old garden roses are the following:

‘Alfred de Dalmas’: Light pink moss

‘Ispahan’: Medium pink damask

‘Mme. Hardy’: White damask

Rosa gallica officinalis: Light crimson gallica

‘Sombreuil’: White tea

But don’t for one moment believe that a whole bunch of newer roses aren’t fragrant and great plants, too. The following varieties are readily available and wonderfully fragrant: